Please help! At Christmas every year, my family and I, painstakingly press hand-made pie dough into each of these little tins compartments. Well, this year my sister developed arthritis in her thumbs from doing this, the pastries we make are given as gifts, but we each make about two thousand of these treats every year. There has got to be an easier way, I know that the companies that sell mini cheesecakes and mini quiche don't hand press their dough, they probably have special machines that press it into pre-formed shells. I am open to suggestion, and have even considered contacting those companies.

The other way to do it (I do it with fluted tartlet pans) is to roll out the dough and cut circles. put the circles on the BACK side of a muffin tin, then put another muffin tin on top. Flip and remove the first tin.

Saw Food Network show where a family made small pies (4"-6" size). Husband built a little hinged press. The dough ball went into the bottom, then the handle swung down to press into a perfect shell.

I have one of the mini-muffin presses that two people mentioned, and use it a lot for tartlets. Here's my technique... Have a deep bowl with flour to keep dipping the wooden press into - roll a small ball of dough - center it in the bottom of the tin - flatten it a bit so its even - dip the press and tap off excess flour - SLOWLY press straight down trying to keep the dough even as it comes up the sides of the tin - rotate the press to release it from the dough - keep rotating the press as you lift it out of the tin - also use the press to tap and press the dough to the sides of the pan. Be sure to keep dipping the press into the flour, tapping off the excess each time.

Also, be sure to check out Flo Brakers "Sweet Miniatures" cookbook. She was a caterer and has great suggestions for large quantities of treats. Suggests prepping tartlets by doing one motion at a time. 1. Drop chunks of dough into tins 2. Roll chunks into balls 3. Press into tins and so on. She has techniques for rolling dough en masse, and great suggestions for planning large projects.